The owners of Roku 3 are quite excited to replace their old device with the new Roku 4. This is primarily because Roku 3 has been easily outperformed by various top-end devices from manufacturers like Apple and Amazon. Roku 4 has been finally unveiled by the company, but an official release date is yet to be provided.
According to some rumors, this device will be available in the US at the end of October. The Android set-top box by Nvidia was launched back on 1st October and similar to the Roku 4, it has the ability to stream 4K content.
The dimensions of Roku 4 have been specified and, as a result, we now that it is both larger and shorter than Roku 3. In terms of its design, it looks like a black box that comes with rounded corners.
The edges of this device are no longer bulging in nature and it comes with glossy sides with a matte top. On the front, we have the Roku 4 logo while the bottom is actually rubberized. In the back, the Roku 4 houses HDMI, Ethernet, optical digital audio and a MicroSD card slot. The USB port is located on the side.
The Roku 4 is priced at $130 and this makes it more costly than Amazon Fire TV, which is available at $100. However, compared to the $150 Apple TV, it is definitely cheaper. The Roku 4 has the ability to stream 4K content and besides that, it has some essential features that were lacking in the Roku 3.
The Roku models are special since they offer a wide variety of content and the same can be said about Roku 4. It comes with nearly 3000 different channels in total. However, you should pay the extra $30 for Roku 4 because of its 4K capability.
Being 4K has its advantages since presently, all the TVs are generally 4K streamers in nature and these are the smart TVs with access to streaming devices. Buying the Roku 4 is actually a step towards future-proofing. In case you are looking for a 4K streaming box, you should get Roku.
You will be able to stream 4K content from various services like Amazon, Netflix, M-Go, YouTube, Vudu, and Toon Goggles. Roku 4 also has a completely latest operating system, the OS 7.
The expanded My Feed is one of the advantages of this new OS. With this, you can follow TV Shows, movies and also receive notifications when they are available for streaming purposes. Furthermore, when you have Wi-Fi networks that require login information, the Hotel and Dorm Connect feature lets you connect.
Meanwhile, there are some shortcomings as well. Roku 4 has access to around 3000 channels but among them, only six channels have to be offered, which come with 4K content. These are Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, YouTube, and M-Go.
There is also the Kids video provider, Toon Goggles. Furthermore, among this small number of 4K providing channels, there is only a small portion of videos which are available in the ultra-high-resolution standard. Most of the channels also don’t highlight their 4K content and as a result, the particular video will also be hard to find.
Therefore, in the end, you need to comb through videos one by one, in order to see if they are available in ultra-high HD standard. Thankfully, Roku tried to fix some of these issues and problems.
The company has a special section of 4K compatible channels in the Roku store. Roku also has a new channel called the 4K Showcase and this actually highlights videos which are ultra-high-definition.